One Two
by The 8th Stone
Summary: The story of China, Taiwan, and how everything came to be how everything is now. A rather AU drabble.
1. Chapter 1

**One Two**

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She rushed through the hallway, small feet stomping across wooden floor. In her arms she clutched a deep pink and heavily embroidered hat, the fruit of her many hours of labor. Today, she was going to show this to big brother. She smiled at the thought of his surprised smile and gentle praise.

_And maybe he would play with me a bit more . . . _, she thought to herself.

At the end of the hall, she took a left turn—almost tripping in the process—and hurried toward a half-opened door. There was light in that room. Her breath quickened with excitement. And she burst in.

"Big brother!" Taiwan shouted happily, jumping up and down, waving the beaded aboriginal hat. "Big brother China, look what I—"

"Huh?" By lamplight, China's face appeared beside a mountain of scrolls. "Taiwan? Is that you?"

"Yeah!" She grinned. "Look what I made! It's really pretty and I'm sure—"

"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" he cut in, frowning. He looked back at the papers. "And your face. When was the last time you washed your face?"

"I—well." She paused. "I don't know."

China sighed. "Taiwan, you have to be a little more civilized. Boys are generally wild and free, I know, but if you want to become a province you must learn how to behave."

"But I'm not a b—"

"Now, go ask one of the other states to fix you up," he continued on as if he hadn't heard her. China flipped his ponytail back and reached for a calligraphy brush. "I have a few things I need to deal with here—" He dropped his voice, but Taiwan could still hear the next words: "Namely, Japan and Korea . . ."

When he rubbed his eyes, she saw there were black circles there; her big brother had not slept for many years.

Taiwan stood there for quite a while, contemplating the possibility of China acknowledging her presence any time soon. When the candle by the wall had melted a quarter way through and China's eyes were still on those endless paragraphs of Chinese characters, Taiwan gave up and left.

It would be many hours before China realized there was a hat left by the doorway of his study.

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**a/n:** This story will be taking liberties with original canon in terms of canon events and with historical events in general.

Because this story might touch on some politically sensitive materials, I apologize in advance for offending anyone in the process.

Aaaand updates will be completely random, but I have the next chapter halfway written already. So this story might get a faster update than, say, my other ones . . .


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n:** Not really sure if I got Spain's personality right there. Let's say he's sugar high that time.

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A few decades passed, and Taiwan grew a little older, a little more mature. She was now tall enough to touch the tip of China's ponytail without jumping, and it gave her a great deal of satisfaction to taunt Hong Kong about it.

"Shorty," she teased as they played in the courtyard.

Hong Kong's face grew as red as his qi pao.

"Well—then—you're a—" He scanned her from head to toe. "You're a stripper!"

(And thus, strippers were created.)

She looked down at her body. Her light blue qi pao was dirty from multiple games of wall-tag, and the dark pants she wore underneath were definitely still there.

She looked at Hong Kong. "That doesn't count. I'm not naked today."

"Well—! I—You're wearing _men's_ clothes," he said disdainfully. "You're a girl! You can't wear _men's_ clothes! That's like—er—like wearing nothing! So you're naked . . . and you strip . . . so you're a stripper!"

He smiled proudly, since it seemed to have made terrible sense in his head.

"Then," Taiwan said, also smiling, "you must be a stripper too!"

It took Hong Kong three blinks to understand her meaning. He then gaped and looked at his own qi pao, only to find it the same as before.

Furious, he glared at a laughing Taiwan, only to receive a mud ball to his face.

"I'm telling!" he said loudly, before running off.

Though Taiwan had longer legs, her new, uncomfortable clothes caused her to trip over her own shoes. When she managed to stand again, Hong Kong was already back in the house.

Fearing Hong Kong's words would invoke an older province's anger, Taiwan hastily rushed out of the courtyard. She chose to hide beyond its fences in case Fujan Sheng or Guangdong Sheng came carrying a bludgeon and a bagful of if-you-want-China-to-know-you're-a-girl-you-better-act-like-one. Or worse, they might make her wear one of the _girl_ qi paos. How horrifying would that be! The last (and only) time she tried to wear one of those nasty things, she realized it was impossible to run in them—it was bad enough now, wearing men's clothing, but at least she could chase Hong Kong around freely without worrying about undergarment-exposure.

When Taiwan reached the top of a hill, she looked back to see China's house to be . . . a lot further away than before. She hadn't realized how far she walked, and now she couldn't even see the courtyard from this distance.

Then, the strangest thing happened.

Taiwan found herself airborne.

"I discovered a country!" a voice behind her shouted.

"Portugal, that's not a country." Someone snorted. "It's just a boy."

She was swung around to face her captors. A teenage boy wild brown hair had his face an inch away, staring at her with foreign green eyes. She squeaked and hid her face behind her sleeves.

"He's a she, Netherlands," a third voice said. "And she's really cute!"

The second voice sighed. "I can't care less."

"Hey, hey," the boy in front of her, Portugal, said, "are you all right? Here, let me put you down."

Taiwan felt her feet touching the ground. Hesitantly, she brought her arms down.

"Hi there. My name is Portugal." He smiled. "What's your name, little girl?"

Her eyes drifted uncertainly to the two other figures behind Portugal. A blond boy looked at her with his arms crossed, impassive. The other boy, one with blue hair and green eyes, waved to her and smiled cheekily.

Seeing her gaze, Portugal said, "Oh, these are my friends. The one that's not talking is Netherlands, and the weird one is Spain—"

"Hey!"

"—what about you?" he continued. "What's your name?"

She gulped. "I'm Taiwan . . ."

"Hello, Taiwan. You seem a bit quiet."

"And small," Spain added.

"Sister Fujan . . ." She glanced left and right nervously, twisting her fingers around. "Sister Fujan said I'm not supposed to be talking to strangers."

It was suddenly silent.

Taiwan looked up, only to see the three boys—Netherlands included—staring at her with a strange expression over their faces.

"Ilha Formosa. Beautiful island," Portugal concluded, smiling.

Spain burst into tears. "SHE'S SO CUTE! She's my little sister from now on!"

"Shut up, Spain."

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Taiwan. Portugal made her a crown of flowers, which she wore and twirled in. Spain found delight in spinning her in circle. Netherlands readjusted her flower crown every time it slipped, berating Spain in the process.

Taiwan never met such fun—not to mention strange-looking—people in her life. She giggled until she couldn't breathe and lied in the grass, laughing with Portugal and Spain, as the sun drooped slowly in the west . . .

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**a/n:** Remember – historical facts be damned, this is fanfiction.


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